A Fuzzy MCDM Approach for Structured Comparison of the Health Literacy Level of Hospitals

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to develop a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to evaluate and compare the organizational health literacy responsiveness (OHLR) level of hospitals. To achieve this goal, the health literacy performance indicators are selected, some potential uses of single and hybrid MCDM and qualitative approaches for structured comparison purposes are illustrated, one more common hybrid approach based on the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and fuzzy Delphi method was chosen, developed, and applied. To compare the proposed model with its classical non fuzzy version (Qualitative -AHP), a case study example on the effect of their implementation on a structured comparison decisions is conceded, and the Bland Altman agreement method is applied to compare the results obtained by them. The results present the suitability of the application of both hybrid approaches for solving the problem. It also shows that the application of them leads to a distinctive outcomes. Robust Fuzzy based outcomes, and small agreement interval (< 0.0113) and little average change level in the rates of the hospitals (< 2.08 %) are observed between results acquired by the Fuzzy based approach and those which were defined by the other model. Based on these results, a fuzzy based model was recommended for structured comparison of the OHLR level of hospitals under uncertainty conditions. It supports sustainable planning practices, and helps with improvement and effectively distributes the necessary resources.